Time and participatory democracy are luxuries we can no longer afford.

In his response to the recent 18% price rise by British Gas, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, said a number of things that should be applauded. However, when interviewed on the Andrew Marr Show on 10 July, he also implied that a new generation of nuclear power stations (NGN) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) can help us solve our energy problems.

Unfortunately, NGN will take at least 15 years to come on stream; whereas CCS is still only a theory and will take much longer to develop (and may never happen). Therefore, assuming that you accept what the vast majority of relevantly qualified scientists are telling us (and reject what the so-called “sceptics” say), we do not have the luxury of time to wait for either of the above. That being the case, the uncertainties regarding the possible very long term safety concerns of disposing of radioactive waste or carbon dioxide underground (if indeed it is possible to truly “dispose” of either) are in fact irrelevant. Furthermore, it is very tempting to conclude that CCS is merely cynical industry-led propaganda designed to prevent rapid scaling-up of investment in workable renewable solutions such as tidal energy, which, unlike either solar or wind, are dependable and available all around our coastline.

However, as argued by Clive Hamilton in Requiem for a Species, the biggest problem of all is the fact that the main drivers behind climate change denial are right-wing ideologues who no longer have any communists to fight; or cigarette manufacturers to support: Hamilton’s reading of the situation does not leave much room for optimism but, sadly, like many of the high profile reviewers of his book, I think he is just being brutally honest. The problems we face in weaning politicians and the police off their dependency on Rupert Murdoch are as nothing compared to the problem of weaning humanity as a whole off its dependency on Fossil Fuels. However, it must be done; and quickly.

Unfortunately, due to the orchestrated nature of the ongoing campaign to deny the reality of – and our responsibility for – climate change, it is highly unlikely that the political pressure to take this radical action is going to come from the electorate as a whole, which means that politicians cannot wait for a popular mandate – they must explain the necessity to act; and then just get on with it.

Thus, in addition to time, participatory democracy may no longer be a luxury we can afford. However, I believe we still have one of the best representative democracies in the world and, as such, I hereby request that you represent my views to Chris Huhne by asking him to stop pretending that NGN and CCS (alone) can solve our energy problems because, arguably, doing so is preventing the radical and rapid re-orientation of our energy generation methods that is now required.